The present invention relates to suspension-type poultry drinking fountain. The invention is particularly useful with respect to the suspension-type poultry drinking fountain illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,061, and is therefore described below with respect to this application.
The above cited patent specification describes a suspension-type poultry drinking fountain comprising a bowl supported in suspension and containing a water trough for receiving water to be made available for drinking by the poultry, and a valve assembly controlled by the weight of the bowl to maintain a predetermined level of water in the trough. The valve assembly includes a rotatable member, in the form of a collar acting against a coil spring, for prefixing the level of the water to be maintained in the trough.
Such poultry drinking fountains are subjected to considerable abuse during their handling and use, and it therefore frequently occurs that the rotatable collar is unintentionally moved such as to change the level of the water to be maintained in the trough. This requires frequent readjustment of the rotatable collar, which is a time-consuming process particularly since the drinking fountains are used in large quantities in many installations. In order to minimize the frequency of readjustment, they have been provided with lock-nuts which lock the rotatable collar in position to prevent unintentional movements during handling and use, but it has been found that readjustment is still frequently required, and when lock-nuts are used, they merely add to the time for making the readjustment.